Freight car door latching device

ABSTRACT

A pivoted latch is positioned at the end of a sliding door supporting guide rail and engageable with a door mounted cooperating hook part to lock a sliding door of a freight car in the fully open position. A door mounted unlocking lever is positioned adjacent a door pusher block to thereby unlock the door from the open position when the pusher block is engaged by fork of a lift truck which may be used to push the door closed.

United States Patent [191 Bailey FREIGHT CAR DOOR LATCHING DEVICE [75]Inventor: John D. Bailey, Orland Park, Ill.

[73] Assignee: Pullman Incorporated, Chicago, Ill.

[22] Filed: Apr. 26, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 247,644

[52] US. Cl 49/449, 292/D1G. 46, 292/254 [51] Int. Cl E05d 13/04 [58]Field of Search 49/449, 275-279, 49/426; 292/5 DF, 254

[56 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Pelcin 292/DIG. 46

[ Jan. 29, 1974 1,181,948 5/1916 Constable 49/449 X PrimaryExaminer-Kenneth Downey Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Hilmond O. Vogel et a1.

[ 5 7] ABSTRACT A pivoted latch is positioned at the end of a slidingdoor supporting guide rail and engageable with a door mountedcooperating hook part to lock a sliding door of a freight car in thefully open position. A door mounted unlocking lever is positionedadjacent a door pusher block to thereby unlock the door from the openposition when the pusher block is engaged by fork of a lift truck whichmay be used to push the door closed.

8 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTED JAN 2 9 1976 saw 1 0F 2 mammm 2 w3788.00?

' SHEET 2 0F 2 1 FREIGHT CAR DOOR LATCI'IING DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THEINVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to slidingside doors of a railway freight car and in particular to a lockingdevice used to retain the door in the open position.

2. Description of the Prior Art Prior art door mechanisms which retainthe door in the open position generally require a manual operation todisengage the lock prior to pushing the door closed. This separateoperation when used at a dock side where fork lift trucks are used topush the door closed requires excessive manual operations since the forklift operator must dismount the lift truck to unlock door and thenreturn to the truck to push the door closed.

SUMMARY The subject matter of the present invention involves anautomatic unlocking lever which is positioned at the lower corner of asliding freight car door to automatically unlock the door from the openposition when the door is pushed closed by a fork lift or other suitableclosing means.

Immediately prior to the engagement of the pusher block by the tine of alift truck, the pivoted automatic unlocking lever is operated to unlatchthe door from the locked open position. The present invention haseliminated the requirement of a lift truck operator dismounting the lifttruck to manually unlock the car door by providing a lock which isautomatically disengaged as a fork from the lift truck engages the doorto push the door closed.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a lockingdevice for a railway freight car door which permits the door to beautomatically locked in a fully open position and automatically unlockedjust prior to the door being engaged and pushed closed by the fork of alift truck.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a lock trippingdevice which releases the car door from the locked open position as thedoor is pushed toward the closed position to thereby prevent damage tothe door should the door be urged closed when the lock was not released.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent fromreference to the following description, appended claims and attacheddrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a partial side elevationalview of a railway freight car;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the lower right hand portion of the cardoor in the open position;

FIG. 3 is a view of the door lock and tripping device; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the door lock and tripping device as thefork of a lift truck begins to push the door to the closed position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring now to the drawings and in particular toFIG. I, there is illustrated a portion of a railway freight car showingthe side wall structure which terminates at its bottom portion at theside sill II. A sliding door 12 moving on rollers 12a is of the standardsliding configuration but may be of the plug door type which is wellknown in the industry. A door supporting and guide rail 13 extends alongthe side sill II to support and guide the door. A second door guide railis spaced above the door 12 designated by tne numeral 14.

The sliding door 12 includes a door locking and latch arrangement 16which is used to secure the door in the closed position and alsoincludes an operating lever 18 which may be used to provide the initialdoor opening force and also the final door closing force. Grab handles20 are positioned on the outer surface of the door 12 to facilitatemanual door opening and closing.

A pusher block 22 is positioned at the lower right hand portion of thedoor as illustrated in FIG. 1 and shown in the remainder of the drawingsin greatly enlarged detail. The pusher block 22 is utilized formechanical opening and closing of the door during which time a fork lifttruck is used to slide the door open and closed. The pusher block 22includes a transversely and horizontally extending upper wall 24 and asimilarly disposed lower wall 26 joined by a vertically and transverselyextending partition member 28. A rear wall 29 joins the transverselyextending wall portions and is riveted to the door. The lower wall 26includes a slot 30 through which the unlocking lever 32 extends. FIGS. 2

and 4 show the positioning of the tine 33 of a lift truck engaging thepusher block 22 of the present invention during door opening and doorclosing.

The pivoted unlocking lever is designated generally by the numeral 32and includes more specifically a lever arm portion 34 and an upstandingflange portion 36 which extends through the slot 30 of the pusher block22. The unlocking or tripping lever 32 is securely and pivotallyattached to the door 12 by the pivot bracket 38.

Positioned on the lower right hand portion of the door 12 as illustratedin FIG. I is a hook member 40 which is rigidly attached to the door stopblock 41 and adajcent the free end portion of the lever arm 34 as shownin FIG. 2. This locking hook member 40 is in line with the latch 42whichis positioned at the end of the guide rail 13 and is pivotallyattached to the door retainer and latch support bracket 44.

Referring now in particular to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 a more detaileddescription of the latch and locking arrangement will be given. Thelatch unit 42 includes a .nose portion 46 which is positioned tocooperate with the locking hook 40 of the door 12 and engage the same tohold the door in the fully open position. The latch assembly 42 alsoincludes a latch extension 48 which extends beyond the nose 46 of thelatch 42 and is positioned vertically adjacent the lever arm 34 of theunlocking lever 32 when the door is fully open and locked in the openposition. A flat spring 50 is mounted on the support bracket 44 andengages a finger 51 of the latch 42 to provide a biasing force to urgethe nose 46 of the latch downward at all times.

THE OPERATION As illustrated in FIG. 1, when the sliding door 12 ismoved from the closed position the door would be unlocked bydisengagement of the door lock 16 followed by movement of the fork of alift truck 33 into the pusher block 22 to slide the door along thesupport rail 13 to the position ilustrated in FIG. 2 adjacent the doorlatching arrangement 42. As the door is moved to the far right of theguide rail 13 the lower corner stop block 41 will abut the latchmounting and support bracket 44 and further movement of the door will beprohibited. As the door moves into abutting relation with the mountingand support bracket 44 the hook 40 will move under the nose 46 of thelatching assembly 42 moving the latch pivotally upwardly as the nose 46passes thereunder. The locked position of the door is illustrated inFIG. 3 which shows how the hook 40 is engaged by the nose 46 of thelatch 42 to securely restrain the door from any sliding movement.

To close the freight car door by the use of a fork of a lift truck theform is moved into position in the pusher block 22 where the fork 33will engage the upstanding flange 36 of the unlocking lever 32 and pushthe upstanding flange 32 into engagement with the partition 28 at whichtime the lever arm portion 34 will be moved pivotally and vertically andin such movement to engage the latch extension 48 and disengage thelocking latch 42 from engagement with the hook 40 of the door 12.Thereafter as a fork lift truck moves horizontally the door will bepushed closed after the automatic unlocking of the door has occurred.

Thus it is noticed that a freight car door which is generally a veryheavy and cumbersome unit may be conveniently and efficiently closed bythe use of a powered fork lift truck without requiring the truckoperator to dismount the truck and unlock the door prior to the closingof the freight car door 12. The automatic unlocking feature of thepresent invention also insures that the door is not urged closed whenstill restrained by a locking device by providing a lock trippingmechanism which releases the lock automatically as the car door ispushed closed.

The foregoing description and drawings merely explain and illustrate theinvention and the invention is not limited thereto, except insofar asthe appended claims are so limited, as those skilled in the art who havethe disclosure before them will be able to make modifications andvariations therein without departing from the scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. in a railway car having a sliding door mounted for longitudinalopening movement on a support rail and having a door pusher block foruse in opening and closing of the door by a lift truck or other powereddevice, a door locking and restraining device for retaining the door inthe open position and including:

a door mounted lock element and a car mounted lock element positionedfor cooperative engagement to securely lock said door in the openposition;

a door stop block member attached to said door;

a door retainer attached to said car and operatively associated with thestop block member to limit longitudinal movement of the door;

an unlocking lever pivotally attached to said freight car door andhaving an upstanding portion adjacent said door pusher block, and havinga lever arm portion adjacent the car mounted lock element when said dooris in the locked open position to thereby permit disengagement of saiddoor mounted lock element and the car mounted lock element as the dooris pushed closed.

2. The invention according to claim 1, and:

said door pusher block including a partition extending vertically andtransversely;

said upstanding portion of the unlocking lever positioned adjacent andspaced from said partition to permit limited rotation of the unlockinglever.

3. The invention according to claim 1, and:

said door mounted lock element being a lock hook member extendingupwardly from and secured to said door stop block;

said car mounted lock element being a pivoted latch member having a noseportion engageable with said lock hook to thereby retain the door.

4. The invention according to claim 3, and:

said car mounted lock element including a latch extension engageable bysaid lever arm portion of the unlocking lever to disengage the doormounted lock element and the car mounted lock element.

5. The invention according to claim 3, and:

said pivoted latch member having a finger portion spaced from said latchextension;

a biasing means operatively engaging the finger portion of said latchmember to thereby urge the latch nose portion into engagement with thedoor mounted lock hook.

6. A door latching and automatic unlocking device for use on the door ofa railway freight car and comprising:

a pusher block fixedly attached to said car door;

an unlocking lever member attached to said door and having a flangeportion operatively positioned adjacent said pusher block and spacedtherefrom, and having an arm portion;

a door mounted lock hook element positioned adjacent the unlocking leverarm portion;

a car mounted pivoted latch means engageable with the door mounted lockhook element;

said latch means having an extension engageable by the arm portion ofthe unlocking lever member for removal of the latch means from lockingengagement with said lock hook element; and,

said flange portion of the unlocking lever member cooperating with saidpusher block to permit limited operative movement of the unlocking levermember.

7. The invention according to claim 6, and:

said car door having a stop block portion;

said car mounted latch means being positioned on a door retainer bracketwhich cooperates with the said stop block portion on said door to limitsliding movement of said car door;

a spring biasing member extending from the retainer bracket to thepivoted latch means.

8. The invention according to claim 7, and:

said pusher block having a transversely and vertically extendingpartition wall;

said latch means extension spaced from the partition wall to permitlimited rotation of the unlocking lever member for unlocking pivotedlatch means from the door mounted lock hook element.

* t t t

1. In a railway car having a sliding door mounted for longitudinalopening movement on a support rail and having a door pusher block foruse in opening and closing of the door by a lift truck or other powereddevice, a door locking and restraining device for retaining the door inthe open position and including: a door mounted lock element and a carmounted lock element positioned for cooperative engagement to securelylock said door in the open position; a door stop block member attachedto said door; a door retainer attached to said car and operativelyassociated with the stop block member to limit longitudinal movement ofthe door; an unlocking lever pivotally attached to said freight car doorand having an upstanding portion adjacent said door pusher block, andhaving a lever arm portion adjacent the car mounted lock element whensaid door is in the locked open position to thereby permit disengagementof said door mounted lock element and the car mounted lock element asthe door is pushed closed.
 2. The invention according to claim 1, and:said door pusher block including a partition extending vertically andtransversely; said upstanding portion of the unlocking lever positionedadjacent and spaced from said partition to permit limited rotation ofthe unlocking lever.
 3. The invention according to claim 1, and: saiddoor mounted lock element being a lock hook member extending upwardlyfrom and secured to said door stop block; said car mounted lock elementbeing a pivoted latch member having a nose portion engageable with saidlock hook to thereby retain the door.
 4. The invention according toclaim 3, and: said car mounted lock element including a latch extensionengageable by said lever arm portion of the unlocking lever to disengagethe door mounted lock element and the car mounted lock element.
 5. Theinvention according to claim 3, and: said pivoted latch member having afinger portion spaced from said latch extension; a biasing meansoperatively engaging the finger portion of said latch member to therebyurge the latch nose portion into engagement with the door mounted lockhook.
 6. A door latching and automatic unlocking device for use on thedoor of a railway freight car and comprising: a pusher block fixedlyattached to said car door; an unlocking lever member attached to saiddoor and having a flange portion operatively positioned adjacent saidpusher block and spaced therefrom, and having an arm portion; a doormounted lock hook element positioned adjacent the unlocking lever armportion; a car mounted pivotEd latch means engageable with the doormounted lock hook element; said latch means having an extensionengageable by the arm portion of the unlocking lever member for removalof the latch means from locking engagement with said lock hook element;and, said flange portion of the unlocking lever member cooperating withsaid pusher block to permit limited operative movement of the unlockinglever member.
 7. The invention according to claim 6, and: said car doorhaving a stop block portion; said car mounted latch means beingpositioned on a door retainer bracket which cooperates with the saidstop block portion on said door to limit sliding movement of said cardoor; a spring biasing member extending from the retainer bracket to thepivoted latch means.
 8. The invention according to claim 7, and: saidpusher block having a transversely and vertically extending partitionwall; said latch means extension spaced from the partition wall topermit limited rotation of the unlocking lever member for unlockingpivoted latch means from the door mounted lock hook element.